From EP1344486A a door locking device of high simplicity and small size is known, based on a rotating latch combined with an elastic flip-flop mechanism which makes the latch selectively take two different steady positions, consisting of a locked position in which, with the door being closed, the latch engages a hooking element, usually consisting of a U-shaped bracket, and an unlocked position in which the latch does not engage the hooking element, respectively. If, for whatever reason, with the door being open, the latch is in the locked position, the device must be manually rearmed by moving the latch to the unlocked position before closing the door.
From DE102007033451 a door locking device for a dishwasher is also known, in which the hooking device is carried by the frame of the electric household appliance and couples with a latch rotationally carried by a supporting body, in turn positionable in use on the door of the electric household appliance and in which, under certain conditions, transferring the hooking element to the rotating member is prevented. However, this is a rather complex and cumbersome device.
More generally, even when the known devices are completely satisfactory, they are designed to be mounted with their most cumbersome part in the thickness of the door of the electric household appliance; this prevents electric household appliances with thin doors from being manufactured, which would be highly useful, in particular in the field of dishwashers, in order to increase the inner receiving capacity of the electric household appliance. This latter problem is solved in part by the door locking device shown in WO2006/111501, which device, however, has a large bulk and a relatively high complexity.